Can a summer FTP be maintained with trainer only

midlife said:

...This brings my question: do any of you "trained cyclists" maintain or increase FTP during a 100% trainer winter season ? ...

I trained 100% on the trainer for 3 Wyoming winters. My power for 2x20s and other sustained efforts dropped while indoors and never got back up to previous outdoor numbers while inside. But when spring rolled around my outdoor numbers jumped up real quickly and quickly led to new highpoints. In the spring of '08 and '09 I hit new PBs for 20 minutes within three weeks of getting back outside even though my indoor numbers had been low all winter.

So, IME the trainer increases overall fitness and FTP even if the numbers seem a bit low while riding indoors.

YMMV,
-Dave

I agree real training is all about the road but you can maintain a substantial fitness level on a indoor device if you are dedicated and consistent.My opinion is that you can train to be a better time trialer than a climber on a trainer.

Definitely maintained. Increased with some focus. Will decrease significantly if allowed or inattentive to training composition (intensity, volume, recovery).

Indoor training facilitates more intervals, for me anyway. More intervals require more recovery. Get sloppy on the recovery aspect (not enough) and your power will decrease indoors.

Last summer my 20min average power reached a high of 279 watts. My winter has been exclusively indoors on a program consisting of various combinations of 2x20s and SST averaging approximately 8-10 hr/ week. My last 20' indoor power test indicated that I have already surpassed last summers high of 279 ( ie 283 watts) Hopefully this will translate into better perfromances on the road

midlife said:

Noob here. Second year.

This brings my question: do any of you "trained cyclists" maintain or increase FTP during a 100% trainer winter season ? (I can understand that an untrained cyclist like I was last winter will increase his FTP during the first winter... but what about the following years) What`s your typical expectation for winter training (limit losses?, maintain?, increase?) ?

I made the choice to switch back to road racing from tri last summer. Not much training before I dropped the swim/run out in late July.

FTP was 285-290 when we switched back to standard time, which pushed me indoors at least during the week. Winters here in SE VA are typically mild enough to allow outdoor riding most days if one can tolerate the damp wind and wind chills in the teens to single digits, though this winter was harsher than normal with several weekend rides lost due to snow/ice.

I maintained a CTL of 70-75 on 8.5-10 hours of total ride time through the winter with lots of FTP and some VO2 work during the week. When forced indoors on the weekend, it was typically 1h45m-2h15m of tempo/SST work.

Back into daylight savings time with FTP ~300 and looking forward to pushing CTL back up after the early season cluster of races wraps up in the next couple weeks. It is doable if you're sufficiently motivated to suffer indoors.

BTW - riding a Kinetic Pro trainer w/ PT wheel.

Appreciated insight. Thanks all.

Hi! for every one First, what type of exercise are you doing. I run, cycle and swim. Swimming is the best for just burning calories and turning fat into muscle.

1) MORE CALORIES and LESS SODIUM, You could work off calories but sodium will make you hold water.

2) Actually you should keep up with your exercises more. I'm 27 and just under 5'2" and weigh 112 and my favorite food is ice cream (not recommended). I run, cycle and swim. If I need to trim down I cycle more if I need to tone up I swim. I run because the Army makes me. Then you can maintained FTP maintained

Worked really hard indoors this winter with a really specific training plan. Thanks to my teammates and coaches for keeping me motivated, I actually boosted my FTP this winter! So, I speak from experience when I say that a solid indoor training plan can do wonders. I have never felt so good on the road in the Spring as I do now, and as a result even got a podium finish in an early season spring classic that a year ago I wouldn't even have contemplated racing in.